Yang Sung-hee
The author is a cultural columnist at the JoongAng Ilbo.
"Swimming is life itself. Learning to breathe is training in handling anxiety and fear, and the rhythm of freestyle resembles balance and harmony in life. The flip turn is the courage to face the wall and change direction again."
Jung Kang-min, from "How is the pool water temperature today, Mr. Seneca?" (2025)
There is a saying that the later years of life should be devoted to the arts and physical pursuits. I began learning to swim after retiring. Progress is slow because I lack athletic ability, but it feels like a good decision. Standing alone in the water, I feel both fear and a sense of release. It is as if I have tasted a fragment of complete solitude. The author writes that in the water, one cannot think of anything else. There is only the need to breathe. This may be why swimming quickly leads to inner calm. It resembles the Stoic process of enduring discomfort to find inner peace.
The cover of "How Is the Pool Water Temperature Today, Mr. Seneca?" (2025) by Jung Kang-min. Its subtitle reads, "How to swim through this world learned from Stoic philosophy." [DULNYOUK PUBLISHING]
As the title suggests, the book calls on Seneca and presents lessons in Stoic philosophy learned at the pool. It combines early morning swimming experiences with quotations from Stoic thinkers. Marcus Aurelius wrote that you become what you repeatedly do, and excellence is a habit. He also likened the world to a flowing river and said one must understand the current and swim accordingly. Epictetus advised not to expect events to happen as you wish, but to wish them as they are, so life can proceed smoothly. Seneca warned that haste is a form of weakness and that people complain about life being short while wasting much of their time.
Stoic philosophy offers a practical attitude for the later stages of life. It urges people to focus on intention rather than results. Epictetus emphasized that while one can control the beginning of an action, its outcome is decided by fortune. One should do one's best without clinging to results. What humans can control are perception and action, while everything else lies beyond their reach. Dissatisfaction arises when people seek fulfillment in what they cannot control.
This perspective aligns with the discipline of swimming, where each breath and stroke must be managed within one's limits. Accepting the water as it is, rather than resisting it, allows the swimmer to move forward with steadiness and less fear, offering a quiet lesson on how to live in an uncertain world today.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
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